Santiago on foot

Today we explored Santiago in more detail, on foot. Our hotel is already located in the historical center of Santiago, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In cool temperatures, we first visited the Palacio de La Moneda and watched the changing of the guard. The band played not military music, but everything from the Viennese waltz to modern pop music. In the middle of the parade, a dog was dancing, everything was remarkably varied, and the audience applauded regularly.

Our next stop was the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Chile itself was not a particularly notable hotspot of early human settlement. The region around Santiago was, before the Spanish conquests, the southern end of the Inca Empire. The museum has quite a few Chilean artifacts, but surprisingly many artifacts from other countries in Central and South America. In our eyes, the museum has more artifacts from the Olmecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs than Mexico, where these cultures mainly settled before the Mayans. Most notably, we saw that the wheel was already known to these cultures. However, it was only used for toys and not for transport. The Incas were completely unaware of the wheel, aside from the potter's wheel. So, a truly fascinating museum.

After our visit, we relaxed a bit at the museum café, and outside it was already 30°C (it is expected to reach 35°C in the coming days). We then visited some more sights like the Santiago City Theater, various squares and fountains, such as Plaza de Armas and Plaza de la Constitución, the city hill Cerro Santa Lucía, and the Iglesia de San Francisco. From Cerro Santa Lucía, there is a great view of the city. You can clearly see the smog, which also obscures the view of the Andes, but the air is noticeably better.

What also stands out are the dogs. They usually belong to a house but spend most of their time on the street and have a doghouse in front of the house. If they want to go inside, they make their presence known until someone opens the door.

Furthermore, poverty is very much present. In many green spaces, homeless people live, and many streets smell quite unpleasant of urine. Although Chile is the economically most successful country, many people are doing poorly. The disparities seem greater to us than in Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, or Central America.